Nick Saban stepped away from coaching after the 2023 season, departing Alabama as arguably the greatest coach in college football history. The 73-year-old impressed in his first year with ESPN, serving primarily as an analyst on College GameDay, but it would not shock anyone if he still has the competitive juices flowing.
As SEC media days begin Monday, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy got the rumor mill spinning around his former coach. During the live McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning from radio row, he dropped a bit of a bombshell, stating that someone "in the know" says that Saban is mulling a return to coaching after one year away. He posed the possibility to guest Paul Finebaum during the show.
"The question was asked of me—it was kind of a little bit out of left field—very much in the know person that I have a lot of respect for and have spent a lot of time around and really admire. They seem to think that Nick Saban is not done coaching. ... He's pretty adamant that Nick Saban will be coaching again. Do you buy that?" McElroy asked Finebaum, adding that he wouldn't have mentioned it at all "if it wasn’t somebody notable.” (audio begins around 14:30 in the clip below).
For his part, Finebaum didn't buy it, citing his own source saying that Saban is "literally having the time of his life" as a mostly retired person in Florida.
"I'm much closer to Nick Saban's age than you are, and I can assure you when you have everything you want, and you start playing golf at the best golf clubs in America and start making friends that belong to even better golf clubs, and you make a lot of money for doing very little work on TV, the interest in doing what he walked away from is not very high," said Finebaum.
"He had a better situation at Alabama the day he left than he'll have anywhere he goes, let's say it's next year. Now, I don't know whether it's college or pros. Could he be talked into something in the NFL? I don't know how. Because I don't think that itch burns anymore either. My opinion is Nick Saban is done coaching."
.@finebaum, of the @SECNetwork, tells @macandcube in his weekly @CraneWorks1987 segment why Brian Kelly isn't on the hot seat, but Hugh Freeze is, plus Paul tries not to go viral in the opening minutes of @SEC Media Days! https://t.co/kkOg0gwlgR
— WJOX 94.5 FM (@WJOX945) July 14, 2025
Barring a disaster in Tuscaloosa, it is very unlikely that Saban would come back for a second stint with Alabama. Kalen DeBoer's 9–4 record in year one at Alabama was fairly disappointing, but the Crimson Tide have high expectations in year two, and he and his staff have done a nice job of keeping that team together.
Assuming he wants to return to the SEC, there are a few potential options, chief among them Auburn, where Hugh Freeze is already under fire after an 11–14 record to start his Auburn tenure, and subpar recruiting results in the 2026 class so far. Would Saban go to Alabama's chief rival? Florida, LSU, Oklahoma are all top programs that could conceivably open up this year and will be attractive to top candidates. But as Finebaum says, none of those jobs will present as good a situation as Alabama did at the end of the 2023 season, and Saban made the decision to walk away.
Far stranger things have happened—see: Saban's good friend and former boss Bill Belichick coaching North Carolina this year. Still, this one seems very farfetched.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Former Alabama Star QB Says He's Been Told Nick Saban Is 'Not Done Coaching'.
